Today, unlike in March, it is safe to say with certainty that COVID-19 has touched all businesses selling anything to the public, whether online in or in-person. Every single retailer in the past two months we have spoke to — and we are talking to a lot of retailers — is thinking about changing their business model in some way. The scale of the collective rethink in retail is just nuts.
read more
There are many good reasons to rethink the drinking age (and for sure some on the other side too), but top of mind right now is that this move would add legitimate revenue to bars and restaurants, especially in places like Greater Boston.
read more
Any “reopening” of our gathering spaces and retail establishments will be only a partial return to what things looked like pre-coronavirus. But despite this, our spirits are high here at Graffito, because it does feel that we are collectively entering a new phase in responding to this crisis: shifting from panic and shock to problem solving and opportunity assessment.
read more
Restaurants. No category other than live entertainment has been hit as hard by the COVID-19 fallout. And no category in the retail sector employs as many people nor is as important to the culture of our urban neighborhoods.
read more
We have, and always will, fly the local-first piece proudly in our messaging. Because it is core to our approach, our world-view, and the way we understand value creation in the urban mixed-use context. Today, with COVID-19 related considerations dominating our conversations, decision making, and daily life, we are thinking a lot about how localism will play out in the months and years ahead.
read more
And as we evaluate additional projects together into the future, we are doubling-down on our shared belief that succeeding in the retail world is not about short-term hits, but about a steadfast commitment to long-term value creation.
read more
As we enter this 5th week of coronavirus shutdowns here in the Northeast, many of us are starting to shift from crisis reacting to crisis planning. This is a welcome development and has been a positive change to many of our conversations with some of you this past week.
read more
Last week Vaugh Tan shared four principles for how businesses should respond to uncertainty at this moment (and generally) and it’s must read content.
read more
Liquor licenses are too expensive in the City of Boston ($450K) and serve as an unnecessary and enormous barrier of entry for most entrepreneurs in an already challenged market even pre COVID-19.
read more
We’ve been aggressively warning our landlord clients since mid-March that failure to tactfully, sincerely, and immediately engage with tenants during this time of crisis possess a slew of risks — reputational, transactional and economic.
read more
